[enobeenob]

Originally Posted by Bumper

We just took delivery of nine new reefer trailers from Great Dane.

First load out the driver got a ticket in a weight station for being over 40 feet in CA.

The only hole we can use on the tandem to be legal is the number 2. I dont know if all of their new trailers are this way or not. The 53ft model we bought though is.

Needless to say they are being taken out of CA and either going back to GD or for use in another state.

Every trailer manufacture is different, there is not a "set" hole on the rail that is where the forty foot mark is. On some trailers manufactures like Utility it is the sixth hole, on some like Wabash it will be the fourth, and so on.

A very simple solution is to keep a 50ft tape measure with you and mark off the side of the trailer where the 40ft mark is and go from there.

Any driver that gets a over length ticket in Cali did not do their homework, and now has to feed the bears.

Too bad, but it is preventable.

[AC120]

"Well that was him, He did not plan his turn.

Planning is the key word.

I know where I need to be to make any turn because I plan and use my mirrors and if still not sure I will GOAL, Get Out And Look.

Simple enough rules to remember for some people."


(Sigh) He did get out and look. He misjudged. Do YOU slide your tandem forward before you go into "the city"?

[enobeenob]

Originally Posted by AC120

"Well that was him, He did not plan his turn.

Planning is the key word.

I know where I need to be to make any turn because I plan and use my mirrors and if still not sure I will GOAL, Get Out And Look.

Simple enough rules to remember for some people."


(Sigh) He did get out and look. He misjudged. Do YOU slide your tandem forward before you go into "the city"?

As a matter of fact my rear trailer tandems are 99% of the time, always slid forward even with a 44,000lb load because I have my fifth wheel in the optimal spot that it needs to be in for every load and if I do need to adjust my rear tandems, it is usually only about 1 in 50 loads I pick up.

I run to Cali once or twice a week and I never had a problem with the 40ft rule because I do my homework and scale my load and make sure everything is legal before I leave the shipper.

[Fozzy]

This is one of the oldest rules. Simply load with the trailer set to run through the state with the shortest restrictions. If you cannot get the weights legal.. thats the shippers problem and they will have to cut some of the freight.

[AC120]

"my rear trailer tandems are 99% of the time, always slid forward . . ."

I understand. With the trailer tandem in that position, what is the distance in feet between axle 2 (the front one on your tractor tandem) and axle 5 (the back one on your tailer tandem)? If it's less than 36 feet, you're in violation of the federal bridge law; you can be up to 34,000 on each tandem axle group, yes, but axle 2 and axle 5 have to be at least 36 feet apart. It's not just about where your 5th wheel is and being legal on all your axles.

The 36-foot spacing applies on interstates.

I used to run a lot of heavy roll loads from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho down into Southern California; GVW was always nearly 80 grand. We always set our 53' trailer tandems at 40 feet (California's maximum) and the shippers knew they had to make it right for California; no problem, they did. If we had set our trailer tandems all the way forward, the Shasta/Cottonwood/Wheeler Ridge scale guys would have hung us by our thumbs for violating the federal bridge law--too much weight delivered to the road in too short a distance. (I never once crossed the Paso Robles scale--always closed when I went by.)

Caveat--this was few years ago. It's possible the federal bridge law has been revised.

[Fredog]

interesting
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=1&gl=us

here's one on the road
http://youtube.com/watch?v=G9Sr6w7kPPA&feature=related